MerDub

Actually Rick, you are very right and I should apologize to the OP. I stupidly read way to much into the initial question.

 

OP, your parents should be proud to have a very thoughtful and generous child such as yourself. Not many kids in their 20's would be as selfless to take their parents on a European cruise. I am very sorry to have offended.

All good :) In fairness we're splitting the cost with dad to take mom but he'll be picking up the heftier portion, given that I'm the one spending hours (and hours and hours) perusing message boards and researching ships and lines and itineraries and shore excursions and restaurants and activities and flights and hotels to make sure we get the best value for our hard-earned (worthless Canadian) dollars and have a great trip that suits all of our needs and preferences.

I would going June, 2018 on the Breakaway. I think that the Breakaway would be a much better ship for the Baltic considering the retractable roof over the Haven. I found a 7 day itinerary, but it only had 1 day in SPB and skipped Helsinki. I need to think about it. $20K? Going for the DOS?

Ah yes I wholeheartedly agree that the Breakaway is a better choice for that itinerary. At least the Getaway Haven is sheltered, although not enclosed. We're looking at the 2-Bedroom Family Villa, and that's Canadian Dollars, so take ~30% off I guess. Still a lot of money. Actually we were trying to figure out if free-at-sea was a better deal than Canada "at par" and having to pay the service charge on the UBP pushes Canada at Par up to the better value, but if we want to purchase the UBP after, I'm not sure if they will make all 4 of us buy it or what. I'm the only real drinker in the room but my mom would have used the second UBP with the free-at-sea for wine with dinner or a frozen drink in the afternoon.

I went to book a Haven Suite for a 9 day trip to the Baltic this morning. I am holding off to see if they revise their policy or come up with a better offer. Why are they nickel & diming me to death when I was just going to spend over $9500?

 

I had never heard of MSC Yacht Club before today and looked them up today. Similar itinerary to what I want but all of the "good" cabins (Yacht Club) are sold out for the date I want.

The 9 night to St Petersburg on the Getaway?! That's the one I was going to book but can't find a similar itinerary on MSC! We were going to be spending close $20,000 with them when all is said and done. If you're going to be offering an upscale product like this you need to make it attractive. Fees upon fees upon fees are discouraging.

I believe this is a VERY RECENT DEVELOPMENT.

 

 

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You are correct. As of Midnight EDT, Haven and Suite passengers are now required to pay the 18% service charge on the beverage and dining packages.

The extra charges are definitely going to make us reconsider who we book with. Considering the price of The Haven if booking outright and not bidding on an upgrade... it seems absurd. An unfortunate decision on their part.

I'm hearing good things about the MSC yacht club - I'm going to check it out.

T&C state that the "current" free-at-sea promotion is only valid until June 5th at 11:59 pm. I guess at 12:00 am they updated the promo and are now charging service fees. LOL typical NCL. I was about to book and pay when I saw the addt'l charge and put my room on hold instead until I could call when the offices opened to inquire. Terrible timing on someone's part. I'll say theirs instead of mine.

That is not true at all. We have also been on Norwegian MANY times. We have not been in The Haven, but we have had the huge suite on Gem. Norwegian bends over backwards for people in the suites. I have a friend who was in The Haven and loved it. I wish, sincerely, I could find an itinerary that I liked so I could try it myself.

 

For my opinion, Oceania does not do anything special for people in the named suites. There is ONE little concession, but I am not mentioning it here because I would be flamed.

 

On Norwegian there is a concierge and a butler for the larger suites and they bend over backwards for you. There was even a special place to sit in the theatre.

 

I do like Norwegian.

Thank you for clarifying! I think The Haven might be our way to go on this one. Given the cabin choices and price point (2-br suite in Haven is really reasonable for 4 people on the sailing we like) and NCL's current promos etc. I think it might be our best choice. I would really hate to go on a family vacation and be BORED. The ports will be most exciting, I'm sure, but I do like a little action at night and I'm mighty good at the ropes course on the Getaway!

Thank you!

Thank you all so much, you've been most helpful. I think given our needs, we will probably end up sailing with NCL in The Haven, I do think the parentals are a bit apprehensive about the size of the ship but I think once they see how quiet and calm the Haven is, they might change their tune. Last time I was on the Getaway was February in the Caribbean and I really didn't find the ship to be crowded and I'm pretty sure we were sailing at at least 100% capacity. I think also, they're having a hard time looking at all of the additional "you have to pay for this" stuff and I was apprehensive about that the first time around as well but when you're doing all your research beforehand it looks like you have to pay for EVERYTHING - but there's literally SO MUCH to do that you don't have to pay for that you don't feel at all like you've missed out on anything if you don't do that stuff.

I feel like I need to remind them that if they were sailing on Oceania, they wouldn't be going to see a circus show in a big tent either LOL.

I believe the poster was being sarcastic. Oceania, Crystal and Regent Seven Seas appear to be their cruise lines of choice.

 

If i were a betting man I'd wager they've never been on NCL in a Haven suite or otherwise.

Someone needs to invent a sarcasm font.

Given the fact that I have had some serious and genuinely helpful replies on other forums from people who have sailed on the luxury lines who did say they think the experience in The Haven was better than Oceania and Azamara and in some aspects was comparable to RSSC and Crystal, I don't think it was unreasonable to think maybe the poster was being serious.

OMG, GO ON NORWEGIAN IN THE HAVEN. Beside that Oceania pales.

Hahaha well you've sold me. May I ask why?

If you do Getaway...consider flying into Stockholm, spend a few days and then catch a cheap flight to Copenhagen (since you've already been there). The Breakaway itinerary is one that usually tenders into a town many miles away from Stockholm. It cuts time short in a city which is absolutely wonderful and makes things logistically much more difficult. The big ships have difficulty with the Stockholm Archipelago, so its iffy where they port.

Oh good idea! I've always wanted to see Stockholm and when I visited Copenhagen I spent 5 days there so I really did get to see a fair amount of the city. I was somewhat disappointed to see that there have been difficulties with the ships in Stockholm - is this a regular thing with the bigger ships? There had been rumours it was due to there being a shipping barge docked in the one large-enough dock there. I would love to do two days in each city on either end, but we'll have to see what the big boss man says. I'm in a similar situation for Barcelona in that I spent a week there, but I'm the only one who's been, so if we do something out of there and spend a few days it's very much "oh it's such a good city and I can't wait to see it with you BUT ALSO there are so many places in the world can we please go somewhere I haven't been?" ;) Just waiting for my dad to call me back with his final thoughts and feelings.

Thanks!

Do your parents (who are paying) have an itinerary in mind? If it's a vanilla Western Mediterranean, you are probably better off on NCL (keeping in mind that those itineraries are very exhausting and entertainment isn't that important - the port time will wear you out.)

 

On the other hand, Oceania offers some itineraries that are not available on NCL. It also offers more port to port (rather than round trip itineraries). Those itineraries allow you to explore the beginning and ending port cities in more depth.

LOL a fair assumption.

We're taking my mom for her 60th birthday, she never expressed ANY interest in seeing Russia, Scandinavia and the Baltics before (actually I think she even said, once upon a time that she had zero interest in visiting Russia and I genuinely doubt she could point out the Baltics on a map) but after hearing about a cruise her friends took, she suddenly wants to go there.

She also wants to go to Croatia, but when I showed her a really great in-depth itinerary for Croatia she was less than impressed that it was only one country. She complains that I've seen so many amazing places and she never goes anywhere haha. It was pulling teeth to get her to come to Prague and Budapest (WHERE?!? IN FEBRUARY?!?!? ) with me a few years back but *surprise* she loved it.

They've never been to Spain or Portugal either, but they have been all over France and Italy, and did a Greek Islands cruise a few years back so I've been tasked with finding a holiday of some sort that doesn't take them to places they've already been. Not the easiest task, and they're the ones who have time restrictions as well so my dates are somewhat limited in terms of when we can go and for how long.

Anyways, the NCL sailing we're looking at is 9 nights on the Getaway, round trip from Copenhagen, calling at Warnemunde, Stockholm, Tallin, Helsinki, and overnight in St. Petersburg. In this case we'd be able to explore Copenhagen for a few days - I've been but no one else has.

The Oceania is 12 nights on the Sirena, Rome to Venice (both places they've been to) calling at Amalfi/Positano, Catania Sicily, Valetta, Corfu, Tirana, Kotor, Split, Ravenna, and Rijeka. With this being 12 nights and their time constraints we wouldn't have time to see anything else before or after. That being said it's a pretty special itinerary, in my opinion, and it's why it made the shortlist. Both sailings have one sea day, and I believe this is unusual, but the Sirena leaves port between 6 and 8 every night, so we will have some time in the evenings on the ship.

I have a feeling we'll end up on the Norwegian this time around and maybe my parents will do Oceania on their own another time when they don't have us younguns cramping their style, it's clearly a line geared towards older passengers. Another consideration is that the season for Med cruising is a little longer than it is for Northern Europe so I think it might be a good idea to take advantage of being able to get away at the end of August in this case. Not to mention the fact that my dad is absolutely not sold on Croatia for some reason.

I did also find a few nice Spain/Portugal itineraries, I've sent them a spreadsheet (my dad LOVES spreadsheets) with 6 different sailings and their ports etc so we'll see what they say about it.

I know NCL is a mass market line and Oceania is a luxury line and overall it's like comparing apples and pitaya. I'm just curious to know how everything in The Haven stacked up against Oceania from some people who have sailed both, especially given that we we need to make a decision sooner rather than later - staterooms fill up fast, especially the good ones!

Thank you all!

Definitely some things to consider. I thought the only really disappointing food on our NCL was at O'Sheehans. The sushi bar was absolutely delicious and just about everything we had in the MDR was pretty good too. I still think about the beef carpaccio.

I think the reason we're considering The Haven on NCL is exactly because "the entire O ship is a haven" and we like the idea of having an upscale personalised experience while still having the amenities and entertainment of a larger ship. I just wanted to put out some feelers to see if the experience in The Haven is comparable to that on Oceania, the rest of the ship notwithstanding.

We are also considering a sailing on Azamara, if anyone has some insight there as well!

Thanks again :)

Hello,

We are looking to book a family vacation - a European cruise, my brother and I are late 20s and my parents are both 60 and fairly active.

I sailed on Norwegian last year with a friend and we got to take a quick peek at The Haven on the Getaway, and thought it was incredible.

Has anyone here had any experience with NCL's Haven and can provide a comparison between Oceania and The Haven, in terms of cabins, service, food, entertainment, amenities, etc? I'm a bit concerned we might be bored on a small ship, given that we're looking at possibly sailing in October. We are looking at the 2-br family villa and honestly the bathroom itself is enough to sell me on it (:hearteyes::hearteyes::hearteyes:) but I'd love to hear what others have to say who have experienced both!

Thanks!

Hello,

We are looking to book a family vacation - a European cruise, my brother and I are late 20s and my parents are both 60 and fairly active.

I sailed on Norwegian last year with a friend and we got to take a quick peek at The Haven on the Getaway, and thought it was incredible.

Has anyone here had any experience with NCL's Haven and can provide a comparison between Azamara and The Haven, in terms of cabins, service, food, entertainment, amenities, etc? I'm a bit concerned we might be bored on a small ship, given that we're looking at possibly sailing in October. We are looking at the 2-br family villa and honestly the bathroom itself is enough to sell me on it (:hearteyes::hearteyes::hearteyes:) but I'd love to hear what other have to say who have experienced both!

Thanks!

Hello!

I am looking at booking a European cruise for 4 in October(ish?) and my mother is quite keen on sailing a luxury line - Oceania, Azamara, RSSC, etc.

I sailed on the Getaway last year and LOVED the idea of The Haven.

Has anyone here sailed on Azamara or Oceania (etc) and can provide a comparison? I love the amenities of a big ship and personally thought the food on the Getaway was generally really great (even in the MDR) and I think The Haven would be right up my parents' alley, but I don't really have any comparisons so I'm hoping someone here can help. Cabin comparisons, service, entertainment, amenities, food, etc?

If it matters, my and my brother are late 20s and my parents are both 60 and fairly active - looking at booking the 2-br family villa. That BATHROOM. :hearteyes::hearteyes::hearteyes:

Thanks!!

I'm also looking at the Baltics and Scandi cruise on the Getaway (early September), we will be 4 adults and the 2 bedroom looks perfect for us. It's still a hefty price tag for 4 people though, wow. I really want to be in the Haven though (sailed the Getaway Caribbean last year and managed to pop in for a quick look) so I'm hoping I'll be able to talk the others into it. It's too bad that the Free-At-Sea promotion doesn't include the 3rd and 4th guests. They really should in the Haven at least, considering many people stay in the Haven for the extra space when you're a number of people. I understand not offering a free beverage package to all 4 people in an IX or OX room... but really.

Anyways, I was concerned because that second bedroom looks quite small for 2 adults but I suppose one of us could easily sleep on the sofa in the living area. Having a second bathroom will be really nice. I'm a bit concerned about the weather at that time of year though, if it was up to be I'd be going in early July haha!

I know they say that it is a 50lb per bag weight limit, and I heard they've actually gotten strict about it. One of us was slightly overweight on the flight down and I'm just wondering if we should pack an extra suitcase or if we'll be ok if we're at like 55 lbs or so?

Thanks.

Awesome. Can it be Sunday now please?!?

I'm hungry just thinking about it.

If you can convince Motley to go, and convince NCL to give us the UBP promo even though we're within the blackout window, I'll seriously consider it.

 

It would be a dream of mine to follow Motley live...

Join us on the Getaway leaving Feb 14th! UBP is still included in the cruise fare if you book now... Plus $100 cruise credit!

I'll have a go at some of the questions:

 

Yes there is a Shanghai Noodle Bar. I've always thought it was pretty good. Nothing stands out at the Garden Cafe, but lots of pretty good things.

 

Burn the Floor is a dancing show. I can't comment on whether it's any good or not (I hated it, but it isn't my thing and I only went because others were), but many people seem it like it. If you really want to make sure you don't miss it then I would make a reservation for it to avoid having to queue in the standby line. If you book it for later in the cruise then you have the option to see if you can get into the earlier show if you want and then cancel the later one.

 

The comedy show does take reservations, but probably not until you are onboard. I don't know how necessary they are. No reservations are required for Howl at the Moon.

 

Other than that, no reason that I can see to reserve anything.

 

Bliss is basically a night club. It opens quite late and I understand that it's quite good if that's your thing. You are right that it opens after the main parties etc.

 

Not sure what skeeball is, but there is a small charge for the things like pool and air hockey if that's the sort of thing you mean.

Is Shanghai Noodle Bar included in our cruise fare? I seem to remember seeing that it was.

Thanks for your replies!

MerDub... are you actually calling the UPSELL phone # (800-625-4309)? Because I have called them 3 different times. First time... $500 pp for H5 in Haven, and $750 pp for Haven spa suite. Last 2 times I called, the H5 was upped to $1,000 pp! I don't really want the Haven or the spa tub in the room, I just want the free access to the "big" spa! I asked them if they had spa minisuites or spa balconys, and Upsell said only those 2 Haven categories were "on the list" for our sailing.

 

I am curious if the upsells offered to my balcony gty is different than the upsells offered to your inside gty?

 

~Denise

I've called MULTIPLE times to both my PCC and the upsell line and have been told repeatedly that there is nothing available. So I guess the upsells offered to your balcony GTY are definitely different to my Inside GTY.

Still trying though haha!

Thanks for your review! I leave on Sunday on the Getaway and it's my first time sailing on NCL! We have almost the same itinerary as you (they swapped out GSC for Costa Maya, unfortunately - thanks Gronk) so it's super nice to read about the ports as well. So Grand Cayman was the only port where you tendered, correct? One time as a kid we were sailing with some family friends who, hilariously, hired a private boat to take us back to the ship because they didn't want to wait for a tender. Security wasn't happy but they did allow us back on hah.

I've sailed on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Carnival in the past but this will be my first time cruising with Norwegian.

Last year we sailed a 5 night on the Liberty of the Seas.

We are two girls, both single and 30-years-old. Last year we didn't find too many people in their 20s and 30s on our RCCL cruise, but funny enough I sailed on the Celebrity Solstice a few years ago and found plenty of younger single people - grown adults traveling with their families etc. which seemed unusual as even my mother commented about the generally advanced age of the majority of the passengers on our Celebrity ship. Possibly the UBP promo will encourage some groups of friends to NCL haha!

We're booked in an inside room at the moment (one of the square ones on deck 5 - interesting) and are going to try for Vibe passes so if anyone has any experience with those, please do tell. I don't think my parents want to drive us the hour and a bit to the port of Miami at 8 am. Realistically, what time should we try to get there? I haven't really seen too many posts about people getting there around 10 and not getting passes if they headed straight to guest services.

And does anyone have experience in these square shaped cabins on the -away class? I know the NCL site says they're "bigger" but in cruise terms bigger could be an extra 3 sq ft. Is the layout good? Our cabin has room for three people, and in the few photos I could find it looks like the third bed simply flips up against the wall as opposed to retracting into the ceiling like the 3rd and 4th beds usually do. Can anyone confirm that? I feel like it would be an annoyance - a minor one, but an annoyance nonetheless. We're not concerned about noise at night but being on deck 5 we're a bit worried about getting noise early in the morning. Any past deck 5 cruisers want to share their experience?

I have long thick hair, should I be packing my own hair dryer? Probably, eh?

We don't have a dining package so in terms of the complimentary dining, what are some of the better MDR meals you've had? Is Shanghai Noodle Bar a thing or have I read too many damned CC posts and am I confusing myself? Anything amazing at the Garden Cafe we should try? (I heard the macaroni and cheese is really good there and every cruise there's always one or two buffet items that are really outstanding even when everything else is typical cruise buffet food)

If we're not going to be eating at any of the specialty restaurants and not going to Legally Blonde, as a party of two do we really need to make reservations for anything? I imagine we'll go to the duelling pianos and some of the comedy shows, and I've heard Burn the Floor is great, can anyone explain exactly what the Burn the Floor show is? Do we need reservations for any of these? Should we try to see the dancers in the Tropicana Room instead? What nights do they perform?

Our ports are Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Costa Maya. We'll probably just walk around and "shop" and head to a free beach - ship excursions are just too expensive for us right now with the Canadian dollar being so bad. If you have any cheap recommendations of things to do in these places, please let us know!

I've heard a lot about the glow party and all the other stuff at Spice at night, what about Bliss Ultra Lounge? Is that fun? I imagine the parties on the open deck finish earlier and then Bliss is open late?

Is the ice bar worth the $20 entry (we have the UBP so the included drinks aren't really much of an incentive and I can be cold in Canada lol)?

Does O'Sheehan's charge to use the skeeball etc?

Sorry this totally ended up being a hot mess of random questions but any advice is totally appreciated, about NCL or about the Getaway or about any of the ports.

Thanks in advance!

Sadly, Nannies are not allowed to travel into international waters per the Jude Law - Nannies have been known to go down and never come back up. Its a safety precaution.

THERE ARE TEARS OMG :D:D:D (If I was posting this from my iphone it would be the laughing crying emoji)

On the Getaway, at the late evening buffet, I think around 9:00 pm, they had the best Mac and cheese every night. Does anyone know if they have this on the Escape?

Mac and cheese is still my favourite meal of all time and I'm leaving on the Getaway on Sunday and this is the best thing I have ever heard. You've just doubled my excitement levels.